BLURB
Sam Adams, sixteen-year-old wizard, has zero interest in saving the world—but staying out of the line of fire isn’t an option for wizards.
When a new designer drug hits the streets, giving ordinary humans magical powers and leaving a trail of bodies in its wake, it threatens to turn his city of Williamsport’s long-simmering conflict between the haves and the have-nots into a full-scale war.
The only one with the skills to protect the city, Sam finds himself thrust into a conspiracy far darker and more dangerous than he ever imagined, with tentacles stretching into the criminal underworld and the wealthy elite—and into the spirit world. Fighting for his life, surrounded by enemies, Sam has to dig deeper than ever before to keep Williamsport from going up in flames.
But even magic has its limits.
REVIEW
Credible Threats is a fantastic start to a new urban fantasy series. Full of incredible characters both magic and human, Daniel Meyer paints a vivid picture of a town steeped in history and conflict with magic bubbling just under the surface.
Sam Adams is a teenager in high school with a big secret. Daniel Meyer does a fantastic job of depicting a teen with too much on his plate and who had to grow up faster than usual. Being a wizard brings with it a lot of responsibility and that’s not even mentioning the tragedy he experienced a year before. All of this comes to a head when a magical drug hits the streets, with catastrophic and deadly side effects.
Along the way, Sam meets many colorful characters of varying species, magical and non-magical. Every one of these characters is vividly realized, Meyer giving us just enough to be able engage with them, but not too much that there isn’t still plenty of mysteries to be revealed in the future.
Some might say this book is like Dresden Files in high school, or a dark Harry Potter without the magical school, but I’d have to disagree. This world and series is very much its own thing and while they may belong in the same genre, they are not the same. Daniel Meyer very much has his own voice when writing Sam Adams and the creatures are original or when they’re not, they are executed with his own originality. If I was to compare it to anything, it would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And that would be a compliment from me, Buffy being my favorite show.
All in all, Credible Threats is a wonderful urban fantasy that brings plenty of new and fun ideas to the genre while paying tribute to the greats that came before. With a great stand-alone story and some good set-up for future threats, Daniel Meyer has written a damn near perfect book one that did exactly what it was supposed to do, left me needing more.
Leave a Reply